


So Petals Moulder

by tigerlady (shetiger)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Childhood Sweethearts, F/M, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-08
Updated: 2010-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-14 14:12:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/150049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shetiger/pseuds/tigerlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the team bond over shared stories of their youth, Teyla remembers what was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Petals Moulder

John chuckled as Rodney finished his story. "Only you, McKay."

Ronon met her gaze across the small fire. Teyla shook her head at his arched eyebrow. She had no clue, either.

"What's mono?" he asked.

Rodney crossed his arms, lifting his chin before he launched into his explanation. "It's a very virulent...well, virus, that causes extended periods of exhaustion as well as other very, very annoying symptoms. I was out of school for two whole months. Luckily, I was already so far ahead of the program it didn't matter."

John was still smiling into his mug, perched casually on the log next to Rodney. He obviously thought it was a matter of much amusement. Sometimes Teyla thought she would never understand them. She glanced at Ronon again, but now he looked amused as well.

"You caught a sex disease from your first kiss? Is that why none of the women here will date you?"

John choked on his coffee, sending a splash of liquid towards the flames as he gasped for breath.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Rodney said, smacking John hard on the back. "No, Ronon, I didn't catch a sex disease. It's like a really, really bad cold. And I'll have you know there are plenty of women just waiting for the chance to date me, thank you very much."

Teyla smiled as John got control of himself, starting to understand the irony of the situation. It did indeed seem like Rodney's luck to get sick from his first encounter.

"It's called the kissing disease because, well, I don't know why," John tried to explain. "But you can get it a lot of other ways, too." He balanced his mug on the log, then slid to sit on the ground. "You know, I spent a whole month trying to catch mono once. It was going around school, and I really, really wanted to get out of doing the term paper in biology."

Rodney snorted. "Voodoo," he said sotto-voce.

Teyla smiled at them. "I take it you were unsuccessful?"

"Totally." John grinned. "But I had a lot of fun trying."

She laughed with them, understanding that easily enough. Ronon picked up one of the long, thin branches they had gathered for kindling, stretching forward so he could poke her in the thigh. Teyla batted it aside.

"How 'bout you?" Ronon asked. "Catch anything from your first kiss?"

"I do not remember my first kiss," she said. "But I am certain it did not make me sick."

"You don't remember your first kiss?" Rodney was practically spluttering as he stared at her. "How can you not remember your first kiss?"

Teyla shrugged. "Exchanging kisses is a game that is very common among Athosian children. My first could have been any number of my playmates, I cannot remember who."

"Nice." Ronon poked her with the stick again, and she snatched out of his hands and tossed it into the fire.

"But the important question is, do you remember any of your other firsts?" John winked at her.

Teyla raised an eyebrow, but couldn't keep her smile hidden. "Yes."

All three of them leaned forward, clearly anticipating a tawdry tale. Teyla held her silence until she saw Rodney begin to lose his patience.

"I remember falling in love for the first time as clearly as if it happened yesterday," she said, laughing inside as Rodney let his breath out with an almost defeated huff.

"Oh yeah?" John casually reached for his mug, but he didn't look away from Teyla. "So, did he sweep you off your feet or something? Love at first sight?"

She shook her head. "No, it was nothing like that at all. I had known him all my life, yet that afternoon it was as if he were someone new. He asked me on a walk through the ula trees–" she paused, gaging by their looks that this was a species unknown to them. "They bloom on Athos during the summer. The branches are long and drooping, and they are covered in tiny yellow flowers all along their length. It is like walking through a curtain of gold silk."

"Sounds romantic," Ronon said.

Teyla laughed. "It was hot. There was hardly any breeze among the trees, so we went to walk down by the water. At one point he stopped and turned to tell me something, and I could see the way he felt for me in his eyes. That was all it took. This feeling rushed over me, like nothing I had ever experienced."

"Just like that," John said. Something in his tone made her wonder, but when she looked up he was still smiling.

"Just like that," she answered. "We were in love for a long time."

"So what happened?" John asked.

She opened her mouth, but a simple story had become a lifetime of experiences, too much to express in a few words. Memories crowded together: holding each other under the stars, dancing and laughing under the tent on Louton, making tea together under Charin's watchful eye.

Making her first trade without her father watching over her, and what came after.

******

Teyla couldn't stop staring at the bouquet of flowers on the small bedside dresser. Three shades of purple blossoms were spiked through with a few golden ula branches, a single blood red rose nestled in the center. Halling had bought them at the market, an indulgence they hadn't needed to make. When she had said so, he'd replied she was worth the cost.

"You did very well today," he murmured in her ear. "Your father will be impressed."

She rolled over to face him, smiling as the excitement of success surged through her belly once again. She traced the muscles of Halling's arm, still in the mood to celebrate.

"Thank you," she said, "but let's not talk about my father right now."

Halling chuckled, then leaned forward to kiss her. The brush of his beard over her lips was still new, but she liked it. Teyla pushed into the kiss, pushed into his powerful body, wanting more, but he pulled back.

"I think maybe we should talk about your father."

Teyla pulled back, puzzlement making her dumb at first. She shook her head a little. "I do not follow what you mean."

Halling took her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm before threading their fingers together. "I want to ask for his favor. There is no reason we should not wed now, Teyla."

"Wed? I had not thought to do so for some time," she said, her stomach a tight knot of panic. "I have so much to learn–"

"And I will be at your side as you do so, as you will be at mine. Doesn't it make more sense to be fully joined in the eyes of the Ancestors?"

Teyla rolled onto her back, squeezing her eyes closed as she tried to think. "Does it really matter what the Ancestors see? We love each other, that will not change, but I do not think I am ready to be a wife."

Halling sighed, and she could tell she had hurt him. She opened her eyes and took his hand again. "It is not that I do not want to be married to you," she tried to explain. "But so many things go so much more easily if I am just Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Tegan. Do you not see?"

This trade with the Dernians had made that very clear to her. Calo had been quite taken with her, and Teyla had shamelessly used that to her advantage, carefully treading the line between flirtation and promise. Her father had never made such a favorable deal with the Dernians as she had that morning.

"And when does it stop?" he finally asked, his voice as hoarse as if he had been smoking pipes with the elders all day. "When will you be ready to be my wife? When will you be ready to beg for the Ancestors to finally look at you, so that they might bless us with a child?"

Teyla covered her eyes, feeling sick and frustrated. "I do not know. All I know is that I do not feel ready yet."

She swallowed hard as the mattress shifted. Halling was quiet, but she could tell he was gathering his clothes.

"I am sorry for bringing it up," he said after a few long moments. "You are tired, I should let you rest."

The door to their room opened and closed softly, its hinges well oiled. Teyla dropped her arm from her eyes and rolled back over to stare at the too merry flowers until they were lost in a watery haze.

******

"Teyla? You okay?"

She blinked away the burn of the flames as John's words pulled her back to the present. Before she could gather herself completely, Ronon's voice rumbled through the night, one angry, too-knowing word.

"Wraith."

Teyla shook her head. "No, nothing like that. We simply had a falling out. And then one summer I went away to spend some time learning more about other peoples, and when I returned, he was betrothed to someone else."

They went silent, the light mood from before broken. Teyla took a long drink of cold coffee, the bitter edge of the memory too close for her to regret its demise.

"One fight and he gets married to someone else? Who does that?" Rodney asked.

"It was more than a simple disagreement, I suppose. The way we see life is too different. And I had to think beyond what I wanted for myself."

Halling's deep faith in the Ancestors had begun to rub her raw the more she had seen, the more worlds she had visited. She had never hoped to defeat the Wraith until she had met the Atlanteans, but she had wanted her people to stand as strong on their own as they could. Halling simply prayed for the Ancestors to save them–or so it often felt on the days she was especially bitter.

"That whole leader of your people thing, huh?" John asked quietly.

Teyla nodded, but she did not feel like explaining more tonight. The fire crackled in their silence, louder than the soft soughing of the willow trees ringing their camp. Slowly, Teyla began to relax, the present overtaking the past once again.

"I am tired," she said finally, ready to put the day to rest so she could start anew as soon as possible. "Thank you for your stories, but I should go to bed."

"Good idea," John said, and the others nodded their agreement.

Teyla gathered her things, readying everything so she could leave at a moment's notice if necessary. She had last watch tonight, which meant a full night's rest–if she could get to sleep after opening old wounds.

"Hey, wait," Rodney called as she opened the flap of her tent, his never-ending curiosity still mixed with indignance. "Do we know him?"

Teyla held the entrance open, the slick material draped over her hand as she decided whether to answer.

"Yes," she said, "you do."


End file.
